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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23622469">And if I perish, I perish</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/coffeeincluded/pseuds/coffeeincluded'>coffeeincluded</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>The Beasts Within [10]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Daemons, Because apparently that’s my thing, Character Study, Gen, Pre-Canon</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-04-13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-04-13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-02 17:35:40</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>527</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23622469</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/coffeeincluded/pseuds/coffeeincluded</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p><em> Once there was a beautiful Almyran woman who became a queen. She was very clever, and very brave, and very scared.</em><br/> </p><p>In the Leicester Alliance, a young man waits for his name to be called and remembers this story. For he too is very clever, and very brave, and very scared.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>The Beasts Within [10]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1543501</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>7</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>49</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Those Who Drabble in the Dark</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>And if I perish, I perish</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>This week’s Felannie Server Drabble Prompt is as follows: <em> Some of the best bits of worldbuilding are in a cultures’s legends and mythology, the stories that they value, the characters and events and symbols that underpin their ideals and traditions.  We’ve seen some of these from Fódlan: the saints’ days, the founding of the three nations, knightly legends. Dive into these! Or travel to other lands: what do festivals look like in Brigid? What fairy tales are told in Dagda? Have some stories crossed borders and changed in the process?<br/>How are these stories told and retold now and in the future? How might they change over time? How do they relate to ceremonies, holidays, and festivals? How do different characters relate to these stories?<br/>Write some words about stories and traditions!</em></p><p>Honestly, there is <em>so much</em> I could do with this prompt but for some reason this stuck in my head first.</p><p>Purim is one of my favorite holidays, and if you don’t know anything about it look it up; you’re in for a treat! And yes, the story takes place in Persia. There’s actually a pretty large Persian Jewish population, though they’re mostly in the US these days. Anyway, my brain mashed a bunch of things together and I hope you enjoy.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <em> Once there was a beautiful Almyran woman who became a queen. She was very clever, and very brave, and very scared.  </em>
</p><p><em> Now the stories never actually </em> <b> <em>said</em> </b> <em> she was scared, but surely she had to be. After all, although this woman was Almyran, she was also of a small wandering tribe, and who knows what the king would have done if he found out?   </em></p><p>Khalid was certainly terrified. </p><p>“Claude, now,” Simurg reminded him. She, at least, could keep her name. Daemon names seemed to hold little meaning here in Fodlan, where “Simurg” was not a keeper of knowledge but just another jumble of syllables. </p><p>Here he was not Khalid and Simurg ibn...it didn’t matter, because here he was Claude and Simurg von Riegan. Assuming they would accept his crest and his claim. </p><p>
  <em> There was a wicked vizier, because there always was, who wished to destroy the queen’s people, because they were different and because he could. The wicked vizier tricked the king, and the queen was the only one who could stop him.  </em>
</p><p>
  <em> Did the queen know the peril she would be in, when she first arrived? The stories never really answered. And it didn’t really matter.   </em>
</p><p>“Daphnel and maybe Edmund will back us, Gloucester won’t, and I don’t know what Goneril will do. What’s going to happen if they reject our claim?” Simurg slithered up and down Kh—Claude’s arm, squeezing nervous coils against him. </p><p>“Exile if we’re lucky, execution if we’re not.” Claude leaned back against the chaise lounge and slipped into his meditative trance, summoned the soothing moonlight of that crest which marked him as part Fodlanese. The crest was proof, and his grandfather was desperate. Would that be enough for them to overlook his mysterious birth, his dark skin and darker hair, his rattlesnake daemon?</p><p>“I don’t know. Oh Claude—“ the name was foreign lead on her tongue, “—we really didn’t think this through, did we?”</p><p>He’d miscalculated, in the arrogant way young men so often did. For all that Almyra has judged him for his other half and found him wanting, not once did Claude think that Fodlan could be even <em> worse</em>.</p><p>“It’ll be okay,” he said with a smile, as if he could convince the very shape of his soul. </p><p>
  <em> Because the queen was clever and brave, she laid a trap for the wicked vizier, and exposed his crimes before the entire court. The vizier was executed, and the king rewarded the queen and her people for their service to the realm.  </em>
</p><p>
  <em> But there was a moment when, for all that she was clever and brave, the queen was completely at the mercy of the king and his court. All she could do was pray that they would listen, and believe her.  </em>
</p><p>
  <em> What was she feeling, in that space between breaths, waiting on the mercy of another? </em>
</p><p>The assistant was prim and proper as he entered the foyer. “The council is ready for you.”</p><p>Claude looked at Simurg, took a deep breath and put on an easy smile. Simurg, his heart, coiled tight around his arm in response. He stepped into the council chambers. </p><p>They were about to find out. </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I hope you enjoyed! Stay safe everyone, and I’ll see you all soon!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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